To the Mother of my Children on Mother’s Day

ERNIE E. MAIPID, JR.

Dearest Gigi,

Your MOTHERHOOD was sealed in our marriage, with our vow ‘To Have and to Hold, for Better or Worse, for Richer or Poorer, in Sickness and in Health.

And so the Challenge came when at first, we could not bring a child to full conception. We went through medical treatment, even danced at Obando, gave up work to prime pregnancy, went to the US for a much-needed rest, and waited.

Three years passed after our pledge, and as soon as I touched down in Manila, I received the good news that our long-awaited child was on the way. MOTHERHOOD had begun taking shape.

It started to take its toll, as it was a sensitive pregnancy. Mom sent you back for lack of a home caretaker. At Gandia, you were bed-bound and could only be brought down, seated on a chair through a tall staircase, only for monthly check-ups in Makati.

Nine months after, on a rainy day in August, Karlo Juan Ignacio was born via caesarian section. Two years and almost two months later, Paolo Juan Miguel followed suit on an October morning. And again, three years and nearly four months after, our youngest, Camina Ayessa, punctuated the surgeries that paved the way for life always, as with each instance, you dared the risk of the grave.

Growing the three was the next chapter of MOTHERHOOD which entailed sleepless nights seeing them through crib days and taking on their first steps. Bringing them to school, running through assignments, until finally, beholding them march up the stage, grown persons, receiving a much-coveted diploma followed afterward.

MOTHERHOOD then took on a different form in single life; when they started working and became more and more independent, until one day, they came to introduce their chosen partners for life.

Today, through the years, MOTHERHOOD honors you with eight grandchildren, fruits of their mothering and fathering. Who you were once to them, they now are passing on to their children – in this unstoppable cycle caĺled life!

At 67, MOTHERHOOD reaps the prize of her toil. She now enjoys a longer time in bed, free of the hustles of a family driver. She experiments cooking new dishes, discovering she also has, what once she envied in others. She spends long hours on the screen, awaiting the end of a suspense-filled plot. She tries on face lotions, she was too busy to bother about in her younger years. She spends privileged time in prayer, often falling asleep in the process.

THANK YOU FOR WALKING WITH ME, LOOKING AFTER MY NEEDS, AND ASSURING ME THAT I WILL NEVER BE ALONE! 

I HAVE ONLY LOVE TO OFFER BACK!

Ernie